Opinion Contributor

Repeal CLASS Act already

The Community Living Assistance Services and Supports Act is the poster child for President Barack Obama’s health care reform: bad policy, deceptive budgeting and stealth government expansion. It’s time to make it go away.

In principle, the CLASS Act addresses the real need for improved national approaches to the long-term care needs of an increasingly elderly population. The good news, unfortunately, ends there.

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It’s not good policy. It offers no strategy for a flexible, market-based delivery of valued services to the homes of those needing assistance. Instead, there’s another government check, theoretically financed by payroll taxes during the working years. We’ve seen this movie before, remember “Social Security: Shaky Foundations” and “Medicare Eats the Budget.”

This runs a real danger: Only those guaranteed to have the highest bills sign up for the CLASS Act — and then spending explodes.

The budgetary danger was passed via deception. The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the CLASS Act would reduce budget deficits by $81 billion over the next decade — an amount touted by the reform’s advocates. Alas, if it were only true.

The CLASS Act, unfortunately, showed only the tax collections in the first decade. Its explosive spending growth was hidden beyond the budget window to stealthily swell deficits in the long run.

Recognizing the dangerous policy and budgetary foundations, then-Sen. Judd Gregg insisted on an amendment requiring that the administration “shall establish all premiums to be paid by enrollees for the year based on an actuarial analysis of the 75-year costs of the program that ensures solvency throughout such 75-year period.”

In short, premiums, or payroll taxes, had to be high enough to cover expected costs.

This eliminated the budgetary deception. But it also meant the effective death of the CLASS Act. If premiums had to be set high enough to cover all participants, the overall deal won’t be worth it to the healthiest, and they will likely drop it. This means that premiums have to rise further — thereby driving out those in need of moderate help.

This financial spiral continues until only the most expensive of the most expensive remain. And they can’t afford to cover their costs.

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius sent a letter to Congress in October admitting there was not “a viable path forward for CLASS implementation at this time.” It was a rare and healthy dose of common sense.

In light of the CLASS Act’s de facto death, the CBO released another estimate of the cost of repealing CLASS in December — showing it would have zero budgetary impact.

Now the House is considering repealing the CLASS Act. Given that there is “no viable path forward” and no budgetary impact, one would think that the House, Senate, Republicans, Democrats and especially the White House would embrace this legislation.

Not so fast. Obama and the Democrats continue to oppose repeal. What’s going on?

Stealth government expansion, that’s what. One way to “save” the CLASS Act is to stop the financial death spiral by mandating that every American participate in long-term care insurance. Sound familiar?

Health care reform faces numerous challenges to its constitutionality. But if the individual mandate survives the Supreme Court, some believe the next step would be a CLASS Act mandate — and along with it a larger government, less economic freedom and diminished opportunity.

The CLASS Act should go. Congress must choose now on a bipartisan basis to eliminate a program proven by Democrats and Republicans to be impracticable — and irresponsible.

Douglas Holtz-Eakin is the president of the American Action Forum. He served as director of the Congressional Budget Office from 2003 to 2005.

This example is the GOP’s “One-Stop-Shop” of hypocrisy; the decimation of the middle class elderly.

Cheney/Goldman Sachs Gregg, the architects of the Deficit Reduction Act 2005 passed in RECONCILIATION, illegally with two different documents in the House and Senate, taxes the middle class elderly the total amount of their life savings if they need a nursing home. Most of these nursing homes are non-profit to boot, as it is in my parent's case.

In my parent's case this was a $600+ a day “tax” for 1.5 years to the nonprofit nursing home before MassHealth (yes, Massa-freaking-chusetts) would consider their application. So my parents paid out their total life savings @ $600 a day to subsidize all the others in the nonprofit nursing home who are already on Medicaid.

This is the Cheney/Goldman Sachs Gregg's method of reduction of the deficit…off the backs of W.W.II Disabled Vets (my parents) who remain alive long enough to need a nursing home, but too old to complain. If they passed away before they needed the nursing home their life savings would have been inherited tax free (less than 2M). No inheritance tax?! They’ll get your assets when you enter a nursing home ($300+ a day each)!!!!!!!!!

Now that their life savings has gone to the nonprofit and Medicaid has kicked in, my parents still have to pay the nonprofit their retirement income of $72,568 a year AS IT SHOULD BE…but only after Medicaid demands they continue to pay their Medicare and Federal Blue Cross insurance premiums of $6,35905 (as of Jan. 2012) a year. They have prescription coverage under their Federal Blue Cross Blue Shield policy, but they still were forced to Medicare D. Think about that!

Why wasn’t their retirement income of $71,568 (as of Jan.2012, minus the premiums of $6,359, still required of them going to Medicare and Federal Blue Cross) enough for the nonprofit nursing home from the date of their admissions? Ask Cheney/Goldman Sachs Gregg.

Goldman Sachs Gregg says now… “We can all agree that no American should lose their life savings or their home because of illness or injury and that the rising cost of health care severely burdens individuals, families and businesses,” Gregg wrote in his letter to Obama this week. “Report after report also confirms that health care costs are a systemic risk to the long-term fiscal health of our nation.”

He apparently forgot about his Deficit Reduction Act 2005 he passed in reconciliation which does exactly this to the elderly needing nursing homes who have saved more than $2,000 in their lifetime and not hidden it.

Cheney/Gregg's DRA 2005 is the perfect example of how the GOP reduces the deficit off the backs of W.W.II Vets with a tax of $300+/day…the perfect storm of health care debate /let them eat cake and GOP hypocrisy.

Medicare does not cover nursing homes. My parent’s life savings does. Watch Sen. Gregg "not" answer the hard questions about what he did here. And apparently once the nonprofit nursing home extracts all your assets from you and your family, no matter if it is in excess of services rendered, you will never get it back. It is used by each state AG to combat Medicaid fraud. THINK ABOUT THAT!!!!!

The Cheney/Gregg Deficit Reduction Act 2005, passed in reconciliation, is the largest case of Elder Middle-class W.W.II Disabled Vet Financial Abuse in History!!

The gentleman in the next room to my parents purchased long-term-care insurance to protect his assets. It turns out that this policy will not pay for his long-term care now (he was duped by the countless loopholes). So his and my parents’ life savings are paying for all the others in that nonprofit nursing home who hid their assets and/or are already on Medicaid.

They counted on the elderly to be and remain ignorant until they are admitted into nonprofit nursing homes…

*************** *************** *************** ***************

and… Apparently this 93-year-old W.W.II Disabled Vet (Member of Kearby's Thunderbolts; www.PacificWrecks.com) and his 90-year-old wife's… (Who share two Purple Hearts and one burial flag)…warm and still-breathing bodies are for sale here in Massachusetts and nationwide because of the GOP's DRA 2005.

Unreimbursed medical expenses since their admissions to a NON-profit facility…$531,611+K…thanks to Cheney/Goldman Sachs Gregg’s DRA 2005!!!!!!!!!

Medicare and Federal Blue Shield premiums: $55,000+ (Forced to Medicare D on 08/01/08 with beginning of Medicaid even though FED BX covers prescriptions).

Legal Fees: $72,000

Why wasn't their retirement income of $71K/yr (minus the forced Medicare D and BX premiums, $6K, still required to be paid by them) enough for the nonprofit from the day of their admissions to a nonprofit nursing home on 01/11/07?..

On January 18, 1943, Major William Benn and his crew crashed their B-25 bomber in the New Guinean jungle while on a routine patrol mission. The plane, called the "Red-Headed Gal," joined the countless other American craft lost on the mountainous, undeveloped island, where there are more missing WWII-era American aircraft than anywhere else on earth. Fifty years later, a Philadelphia businessman named Fred Hagen--Benn's grandnephew--embarked on an epic quest to find the plane. B-25 DOWN documents Hagen's incredible ordeal, which led some to question his sanity. Ultimately, however, he found not just Benn's bomber but also the remains of another plane, a P-47 Thunderbolt fighter. Here, Hagen details the many steps in his long search--including the additional task he took upon himself after discovering the P-47.

The Class Act is just another example of government trying to micromanage. It should be repealed and replaced with the provision to allow long term care insurance premiums to be paid Pre-taxed through Section 125 plans. Real long term care insurance does NOT have loopholes. So far my clients have received $3 million in benefits. That is money that came from their policies. They didn't use up their savings. They did not stick their bills to the taxpayers under Medicaid. My own Mother who died of Alzheimers had a policy that I paid for for 17 years and in the two years she had care at home the policy paid 4 times more than I had paid in premiums.

My book, My Million Dollar Mom has valuable information on caring for loved ones with Alzheimers.

..and the results of what the Cheney/Goldman Sachs Gregg DRA 2005 does to the elderly seems to be lost on Gregg himself, the architect.

Goldman Sachs Gregg says now… “We can all agree that no American should lose their life savings or their home because of illness or injury and that the rising cost of health care severely burdens individuals, families and businesses,” Gregg wrote in his letter to Obama this week. “Report after report also confirms that health care costs are a systemic risk to the long-term fiscal health of our nation.”

He apparently forgot about his Deficit Reduction Act 2005 he passed in reconciliation which does exactly this to the elderly needing nursing homes who have saved more than $2,000 in their lifetime and not hidden it.

Wake up everyone!

My parents are stuck with paying for everyone else (a la Goldman Sachs Gregg), disproportionately, who already are on Medicaid and get to stick their long-term-care costs on them.

Transparency. The wake up call is that Medicaid is going broke. DRA tries to stop the abuses that have occured with some "Medicaid Planners" who run seminars entitled, "Get the government to pay for your care without buying insurance." Medicaid was never designed to help people pay for their own care when they have the money to pay for it themselves. Medicaid is a Welfare program. Medicaid eligibility still exempts your residence, one vehicle and a business as well as other exempt items. People who purchase private long term care insurance may be able to keep their life savings and still qualify for Medicaid under the DRA;s Long Term Care Partnership program. It rewards personal responsibility. For those who had no savings like My Mom they can still plan ahead. She didn't have any savings and could have qualified for Medicaid. I felt it was my responsibility to care for her; not the government. I got to decide how and where she was cared for; not some bureacratic in Washington. I will buy private for profit insurance anytime over micromanaged government programs administered by unaccountable bureacrats in government.

I feel the same way about responsibility...but not the disproportionate amount my parents pay a la Cheney/Goldman Sachs Gregg. Your remedy is to pay additional for-profit health care premiums! You must represent a for-profit insurance company along with hawking your book.

" my parents still have to pay the nonprofit their retirement income of $72,568 a year AS IT SHOULD BE…"

$365K vs. $550K

Why wasn't that enough for the nonprofit from the beginning? Ask Cheney/Goldman Sachs Gregg, the architects of the largest case of Elder Financial Abuse in history. They (and others) targeted a captive audience...the elderly needing long-term care...to reduce the deficit...

And this spawned a whole new industry of abuse...patient recruiters.....

Let's pretend that your private for-profit insurance premiums paid the total amount of Private Pay Fees you should have been subjected to (like my parents were required to pay)...about $350 a day...for the entire length of the nursing home stay...like my parents were required to do with their life savings. If not, your shortcomings were pick up by everyone else....adding to the deficit formula.

...and if everyone is not forced to buy into this insurance policy..everyone in/no one out...it still leaves the burden on my parents life savings to be drained at $350 a day BEFORE their retirement income of $73K a year was enough for the GOPcare....NICE SCHEME by Cheney/Goldmand Sachs Gregg....

And they are REQUIRED to still pay for their Blue Cross and Medicare premiums as they always have and AS IT SHOULD BE..but were forced to Medicare D even though their Blue Cross premiums cover prescriptions. As I said before, "Think about that."

..and just to remind you all of what Goldman Sachs Gregg said about the law he orchestrated....

Goldman Sachs Gregg says now… “We can all agree that no American should lose their life savings or their home because of illness or injury and that the rising cost of health care severely burdens individuals, families and businesses,” Gregg wrote in his letter to Obama this week. “Report after report also confirms that health care costs are a systemic risk to the long-term fiscal health of our nation.”

He apparently forgot about his Deficit Reduction Act 2005 he passed in reconciliation which does exactly this to the elderly needing nursing homes who have saved more than $2,000 in their lifetime and not hidden it or pretend for-profit long-term care premiums solve the problem.

He is very adept at speaking out of both sides of his mouth, isn't he.

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